How to resolve an HTC One M8 overheating problem [troubleshooting guide]

We’ve been getting a lot of overheating issues for HTC One M8 lately so we have decided to write a few posts about the issue. Below are some of them.

If you have other Android issues, please share them with us and we will do our best to publish them together with their solutions. Kindly use the link provided at the bottom of the page to let us know about your problems.

…And also my phone keeps overheating if I use it for too long. it becomes so hot I can’t hold it anymore, it’s burning hot. The battery dies really quickly as well and it won’t charge unless I completely stop using it or turn it off. It turns off my itself as well. — Isabelle

Everyday when I use my phone and just use 1 game it starts to overheat. I tried to delete some photos and junk but it still didn’t work. I also tried to reset my phone but when I used an app it got really hot. I soon got a app that monitors my phone temperature and cools it down but it still not working please help me. — Dylan

Dear The Droid Guy. I have been using HTC One M8 for some time now but since the latest update i.e., Lolipop, my phone has been acting weird. I am from India and updated my phone when i had to Dubai.

The problems are as follows:

1) Phone getting hot really hot within a min of using any app

2) Phone started lagging and regular hanging

3) Phone battery draining very very fast.

Please help me out on this and also please let me know how to back up my phone completely before factory resetting.

Everytime I try to backup to my account it says try again later.

Eagerly awaiting your reply. Thanks & regards. — Ameen

Hi. Please do help me on this.

Did try the following and this what happens.

While charging while its off since i cant open, the battery charging indication is on the screen_ but it never turns on.

While charging and off, the led red light is blinking but becomes very hot.

Tried the manual troubleshooting while on charge, hold and press power button for 10 seconds. What happens is, the led will be gone for a while, and at the same time the charging indicator seen on the screen is gone too then go back to the same scene. Led red light blinks and on the screen is the battery charging indicator.

Same case as 1-2 mins. Its gone for a while then back then gone. Still it doesnt turn on. But the phone goes so hot even if its turned off. Thank you. — Jobelle

…twice in recent days when trying to use the camera, the phone started heating up and got warmer than Id ever noticed before, I had to take it out of my pocket and switch to power save and close everything before it finally cooled down. Is it possible to uninstall ‘Lollipop’ without a factory reset, Id like to go back to thew phone I had a couple of weeks ago? Thanks for the site, Ive been trying official android and HTC channels but have had no help whatsoever. Cheers. — Killian

Hi there. I bought an HTC One M8 (Sprint) version from US and then got it unlocked in India. Since past few days it has been showing some problems like it is getting overheated and the phone turns off and on automatically. Though, when I use it plugged into the charger, the auto on off doesn’t happen. I have tried rebooting and factory data reset but none of that provided me any solution. I have also tried going into the recovery mode but as soon as I select that option the phone again goes into the on off mode and gets stuck in that loop. Please help me out here. Regards. — Ashwin

Solutions

Before we give the solutions for an overheating M8, let’s be clear with one thing: your device is supposed to be warm when operational. In fact, all smart devices or electronics are designed to withstand certain amount of heat. Unless the phone has become too warm to touch like what Isabelle experienced, your phone may not necessarily be overheating. An Android smartphone like the HTC One M8 is designed to auto shutdown once it reaches a certain heat threshold to prevent damage to inside components. This is also a safety feature to prevent hurting the user when touching it.

Where is the heat coming from?

If you like to dig deeper why your $500 smartphone is trying to burn itself up, the first thing that you must do is identify which part of the device is getting hot. Heat coming from the speaker area during calls may indicate a shorted component in that part, or a defective speaker may be at play.

If heat is isolated at the back part of your phone, that may indicate a possible battery or motherboard problem.

In other words, try to figure out which part of your M8 is heated before trying to troubleshoot to save your time and effort.

We don’t want you to do software troubleshooting when the most probable cause is a malfunctioning battery or hardware.

It can be tricky, we admit, to know what may be the real cause if heat is on the back part of the M8 as there’s no way for us to check if it’s the battery or some other internal components that’s acting up. Still, it pays to know that you may have a possible hardware failure at hand to guide you when troubleshooting the problem. Because we cannot physically check the battery for telltale signs of damage like (bulging on the sides) due to it’s non-removable design, we must assume first that the problem is software in nature. Only after doing all standard software troubleshooting steps can we conclude that it’s a hardware problem.

While rare, it’s possible that the front part of the phone may generate heat due to some touchscreen problem. If this is happening on your phone, don’t bother doing the software troubleshooting, simply seek for a replacement or have it repaired right away.

Be a smart user

Your smartphone is a handheld wonder. It’s packed with a lot of potentially fun features because it allows your to connect with friends and relatives, enjoy your favorite game, check out the latest fashion trends, listen to your favorite music, almost all at the same time. It’s such a complex, powerful machine that we often forget the fact that we may have already pushed its limits too far. While it’s designed to handle the usual stuff that we do in our regular digital life–chatting, calling, texting, gaming, etc.–doing them often may lead to some problems like fast battery drain, battery damage, internal component failure due to heat, among others.

If you’re a heavy gamer, you may be putting your phone at risk of heat damage if done frequently. Graphics-heavy games can be demanding for a processor. Add the usual phone tasks to it and you are putting too much load on the system. The harder the processor works, the higher the demand for resources and battery power. Take all of them into account and you are putting your phone at risk of overheating.

Majority of the time, overheating is not a problem in itself, but simply an indicator that some part or parts may not be working right. Try to ease usage of your M8 a bit like allowing it to cool off for at least 2 hours before using it again for games and check the difference. If you notice that overheating continues while simply using it to open a single app like Twitter, something must be wrong with it.

Avoid exposing the phone to direct heat

Using your HTC M8 near a heat source for extended periods may contribute to heat damage. Leaving it inside your car under a hot sun is obviously a no no. Any heat source like ovens, direct sunlight, hot environment, etc will surely hasten your phone’s decline. Worse, your M8’s Lithium polymer battery will easily lose its capacity if frequently exposed to direct heat. A battery issue on your device means you have to either send it for repair or seek a replacement phone. We don’t think that’s what you want.

Ventilation is a must

As mentioned above, electronics and heat don’t usually mix so developers take ventilation seriously when designing products like your M8. But ventilation on such a thin device can only be provided so much. As a responsible user, it’s your duty to ensure that your phone is not kept in a measly ventilated place. If it’s constantly kept in your pocket for a long time, it’s only a matter of time before it gets warm to touch.

Also, when using third party casings, make sure that they give ample ventilation and not suffocate the phone.

Disable gimmicky features

Use smarts in tweaking your M8’s settings. Too much widgets running at the same time can add up pretty quickly causing the phone to work harder. Turn off animated wallpapers and near field communications features if not in use.

Download app and system updates when available

Always grab every oppurtunity to update stuff. Every update is meant for improvement and bug fixes so installing them as soon as they available may help resolve any software issue that might lead to overheating.

Do regular maintenance

Tasks such as clearing your phone’s cache partition and manually deleting unnecessary files buried in internal memory provides more benefits to your phone in the long run. It’s recommended to delete cache partition every once in a while to give your device updated and fresh cache to work with. The system cache is a repository of information that your phone uses to load apps faster. If files in the phone’s cache become outdated, it may result to slow performance problems, apps crashing, overheating, etc.

Make sure to keep holding the Volume Down button until the Android images are displayed on the screen.

Use the Volume Down button to go to Recovery.

Use the Power button to confirm Recovery

Press Volume Up and Power simultaneously once you see the red triangle icon.

Use Volume Down again to go to Wipe Cache Partition and press the Power button to select.

Wait for the confirmation that the wipe has been completed.

Press the Power button to select Reboot System Now.

Uninstall third party apps

Rogue or malicious apps can also cause the phone to work harder by simply running in the background all the time. Aside from possibly compromising your personal information, rogue apps can also lead to overheating if left unchecked for a long time. Make sure you keep tabs of all your apps. Remove anything that you haven’t used in a long time. That’s a good sign that you don’t really want it.

Less popular or outdated apps can be problematic. It’s always good to be picky when installing apps on your phone not just to prevent wasting precious phone resources, but also to keep your credentials secure.

A good way to check if an app is causing a problem is by doing a factory reset, installing them one by one, and making sure to observe how the phone behaves after adding one.

Factory reset

You may have known by now what factory reset means but if you haven’t done so before, just follow these steps:

Go to Settings.

Tap Backup & reset.

Tap Reset phone.

Tap OK.

Don’t forget to create a copy of your personal data like photos, videos, music files, contacts, etc before proceeding.

A factory reset forces the phone to run a stable firmware so if the problem has been software all along, this should be the ultimate fix.

Get a replacement or send the phone for repair

If all of the above troubleshooting steps won’t make any difference, it’s time for you to seek assistance from your local shop if you want the repair route. If you’re lucky and the phone is still within the warranty period, you may want to call HTC or your carrier for a replacement unit.

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer: we are not affiliated with the device manufacturers or phone carriers we mention in any way, all suggestions are based on our own experience and research, you may use our advice at your own discretion.